


5 Times Tony Saw Himself in Peter

by LethalBookshelves



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hair Playing, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Nightmares, Social Media, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, but only for like a hot second, c'mon of course i was going to include cuddles, its pretty team cap friendly, peter posts 1 thing on instagram, the honorary 5+1 fic this fandom loves, tony looks at peter and goes 'oh damn he's like a carbon copy of me'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 09:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18029279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LethalBookshelves/pseuds/LethalBookshelves
Summary: ...and the 1 Time Someone Else Saw ItTony feels responsible for the kid, and while he did realize they had a few things in common at first (both geniuses, both lost their parents, both superheroes, etc. etc.) he didn't realize just how much he saw himself in Peter until they started getting closer.





	5 Times Tony Saw Himself in Peter

**Author's Note:**

> this fandom lives and breathes 5+1s, so i figured it was my time to write one. enjoy!

 

1.

 

Tony knew since the moment he found out the kid had made his own webshooters from dumpster diving that he was a genius. Not just anyone could be sent to such a high-profile school on a full scholarship, and Peter managed to do it. Nevertheless, when Tony finally invites Peter over to the lab in the Tower (he managed to get it back, but only because the new company had no idea how to use the Arc Reactor. When Pepper had asked why he wanted it back, he couldn’t admit it was because he wanted to keep a closer eye on a certain web-slinging superhero) even Tony is taken aback by how easily Peter can keep up.

Peter took one look at the lab and Tony was sure that the kid was going to spontaneously combust.

“Holy—!”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Tony interrupted and then was ignored.

“—shit!”

Peter’s eyes sparkled as he took everything in, from the old Iron Man armors to the dozens of pieces of unfinished projects lying across every available surface. Tony hadn’t even had the Tower back for long, and yet still managed to make the lab look like organized chaos.

“Mr. Stark, this is… amazing! Is that the Mark VI?! The first armor without the palladium arc reactor but with the Core Arc Reactor? And-and is that the new StarkPhone! The very first in the world that—” Peter goes on and on and on, but Tony doesn’t stop him. Instead, he listens to the kid rant about the same things that Tony is interested in, and relishes in the fact that he has someone who understands the things he does.

Throughout the late afternoon and evening, all they did was talk and tinker. Tony refused to let Peter close to the more dangerous projects, even though Tony knows Peter is smart enough to understand it (he’s just scared something will backfire and Peter will get hurt again, not that he would ever admit it) much to the disappointment of the kid.

“It’s not even that dangerous though! These repulsors don’t have the same mechanics as, say, the Unibeam, so it wouldn’t be strong enough to have any long-lasting effects on me.” Peter points out.

“No. If I get you hurt on the first time we come here, your aunt will have my head.” Tony retorts, and then tries to distract him, “Why don’t you show me your web fluid formulas? That couldn’t have been easy to create with such limited resources.”

Much to Tony’s relief, that did the trick and Peter ended up excitedly showing Tony his notebook full of scribbles and half-finished ideas. As Tony listens to this boy, this _child_ , talk about such high level chemistry like it was as easy as breathing, he couldn’t help but realize how similar they were. Both huge nerds (even if Tony had more class with his nerdiness) who were too intelligent for their age group, who would rather stay in a workshop creating things and scribbling barely discernible notes into the margins of papers lying around than do anything else.

It threw him in a loop at first, because Tony still remembered the words he told Peter up on that rooftop. _“I wanted you to be better.”_ And he is. Better. Much better than Tony ever would be, and with the right mentoring Peter would surpass even him in his levels of intellect. Tony’s never been one to be jealous of other people in terms of intelligence, he would rather learn and discuss, but it was rare to ever find anyone who impressed him; Peter impressed him _a lot_ . The man only wanted what was best for Peter, and if that meant losing the title as best engineer in America, then so be it. _Huh._

 

  
  
2.

 

After inviting Peter over that first time, their lab sessions became a weekly thing—every Friday, and occasionally one or two other days of the week if Peter managed to hurt himself enough to warrant Karen notifying Tony (which happens _way_ too often).

The kid has never stayed the night before, but the hailstorm outside was too strong for Tony to send Peter home, and May had already given them her permission to stay since she was stuck at work anyway.

So now Tony had one hyperactive teenager bouncing along at his side as he walked him to the bedroom right next to his own. Since they were in the Tower’s penthouse rather than the labs downstairs, it gave Peter a whole new environment to gawk at.

“Woah, Mr. Stark that view is so cool! Imagine if I jumped off of the top of this building and swung my way—”

“Absolutely _not,_ Peter _._ Or I will duct tape you to the bed.” Not that duct tape would hold the enhanced teen. Honestly just the thought of Peter jumping off of anything was enough to give Tony hives, but off of the TOWER? Was he absolutely batshit INSANE??

But Peter just giggled, still on a high of finally being able to see where his hero lived. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Mr. Stark. I know you have heart problems because of me.”  
  
Tony rolled his eyes but didn't deny it. “Here’s your room, kid. I’m right next door so just shout or ask FRIDAY to call for me if you need me.”

He left the teen there to gawk at the Star Wars posters and memorabilia while he went to go make himself another cup of coffee and head back down to the lab—so what if it was 11PM on a Friday night? It’s not like he had anything better to do. Plus, sleeping meant the possibility of nightmares, and sleeping in the midday sun was less frightening than sleeping in the middle of the night.

The billionaire watched as the hours passed, and only realized it was late when he reached for more coffee and found none.

“Ugh.” Tony stretched, cringing at the sounds of his bones popping. “FRIDAY, time?”

 _“2:30AM, boss.”_ She dutifully replied.

“Great. Just in time for more coffee.”

If AIs could give him the stink eye, he was sure FRIDAY was doing it.

Tony was expecting to find the penthouse quiet and dark since the spider-kid was supposed to be asleep, but instead he found the TV playing at a low volume with some random animated show. Said spider-kid was curled up on the couch, staring with half-lidded eyes at the colorful characters.

Abandoning the idea of another cup of coffee, Tony walks towards the living room, fully intent on lecturing Peter about being awake at 2:30 in the morning, but something stops him. Quietly so that only FRIDAY can hear, he inquires about Peter’s sleeping habits.

_“He slept for a short while about 2 hours ago, but had woken up from what I assume to be a nightmare. He was restless and then moved to the living room about 30 minutes ago.”_

“And why wasn’t I notified?”

_“He had requested for you not to be told, because he worried you’d be bothered.”_

Tony sighs, “Of course he did.” Now filled with newfound purpose, he strides to the couch and plops down next to his protege. “Hey there, kiddo, whatcha doing?”

Peter, now very awake and looking guilty, stammers out apologies. “I’m so sorry, I was going to sleep, I was really, but then I just couldn’t so I came here and FRIDAY said it was okay and I’m really really sorry, Mr. Stark—”

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down there, Spider-baby, I’m not mad.” Tony reassures, wrapping an arm over the kid’s shoulders and squeezing, hoping to bring some comfort to the distressed teen. “Just wanted to know if you’d want some company for this impromptu movie night.”

He can feel muscles relaxing under his arm, and the relieved voice of Peter going “really?”, as if he couldn’t believe someone else would want to sit there and watch… Steven Universe? with him at such early hours of the morning. “You can go back to sleep, Mr. Stark, I’ll go to bed soon.”

The older man tsks at him, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, kiddo. Not when you’ve had a bad night.” Plus, it wasn’t like Tony had any plans on sleeping.

Peter’s face immediately turns red, and he ducks his head as if to hide it. “I-I’m fine, Mr. Stark, really. Just some bad dreams, I’m just being a baby.” Hell, even _Tony_ is surprised at how self-depreciating that sentence was, and he’s _Tony._ The actual King of Hating Himself. He’s at a loss once again at how similar they were.

Time to fix things. “Okay, time for a heart-to-heart.” He motions at the TV and FRIDAY puts it on mute. “Nightmares are no small thing, alright? And not being able to sleep because of them doesn’t make you a baby,” _hypocrite,_ his mind whispers. “Take me, for instance. I have nightmares all the time. And they _suck_ , Pete, and you’ve been through so much already at such a young age. You’re doing a great job at handling this on your own, but you also gotta let others help you, okay?”

There’s a silence and for a second Tony wonders if maybe he pushed too far, since he wasn’t the kid’s dad or anything—

_Sniffle._

Oh _no,_ did Tony make him cry?!

“R-really?” Peter’s voice is so small that some parental part of Tony that he didn’t know existed reared its head, and Tony’s only goal was to make sure his kid would stop sounding so defeated.

“Of course, Peter.” He soothed, the hand that was on Peter shoulder rising to bury itself into the boy’s curls. “I’m always here to help you, kiddo.”

Peter sniffles again, and leans against his mentor’s chest. Something in Tony snaps at that movement, and any hesitancy was thrown out the window as Tony wraps both arms around the boy. There are tears that roll slowly down Peter’s face as he buries it into Tony’s collarbone, and Tony runs a hand up and down his back while the other plays with his hair. For a long time they just sit like that, and Tony knows he’s going to have to talk to Peter about his problems sometime soon, but not now. Now he’s going to comfort his kid for as long as he needed, because at some point in between all the visits Peter really did become _his kid_ , and he’s going to make sure Peter gets enough sleep every night, and he’s going to try his hardest not to screw this up.

  


3.

 

The next thing Tony finds out that they have in common is anxiety.

Now, Tony isn’t an idiot—and he has the degrees to prove it—but he didn’t realize just how _badly_ Peter was affected by the whole Homecoming incident until he up and has a panic attack in Tony’s arms.

It started off as an innocent evening at the lab, but after a miscalculation of how heavy the old bookshelf was, Peter accidentally sends the whole thing tipping forward. Fortunately, the case doesn’t fall, but a good amount of the books on it do. Tony remembers watching this happen with his heart in his throat, but he fully expected Peter to brush himself off and start apologizing, so when the man doesn’t see his kid’s body exiting the pile of books, he worries.

And now he’s got his arms full with one hyperventilating super-teen, and he’s barely holding himself together enough to calm him down. “Peter, Peter, listen to me. Take a deep breath for me okay, kiddo? Four seconds in, four seconds out. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve got you, kid, nothing’s gonna hurt you here.” Tony babbles out reassurances that are half for Peter and half for himself, because Tony has no clue what he’s doing, but that was what Pepper and Rhodey used to do for him when he was having an anxiety attack. Carding his calloused hands through his kid’s hair, he presses the small body closer to himself, whispering more comforting words into the soft curls.

It takes a long time—too long—but Peter begins to come back to the present, his once heaving breaths matching Tony’s carefully controlled ones. The hands that were clenched at the front of Tony’s old graphic tee don’t loosen, but Peter lays his head more snugly in the area where Tony’s neck and shoulder meet.

The soft puffs of warm air that Tony feels makes his heart calm, because Peter’s fine, he’s alright, he’s not drowning in a lake or holding a ferry together with his bare arms. He’s in Tony’s arms and he’s okay.

“Hey, Pete. Wanna move to the couch in the living room? We can put on a movie and just relax.” Tony speaks softly, slightly scared of breaking the silence of the lab.

He feels a nod, and so Tony slowly gets up, not letting go of his kid even when his old body protests at the movement. “I’m sorry.” Peter whispers, still clutching onto his father-figure like a lifeline when they finally make it to the couch.

Tony shushes him softly. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Spider-baby. Even the strongest superheroes can get panic attacks.” He knows Peter doesn’t believe him, but he’s tired enough to just listen to Tony and gets more comfortable along his side. Tony indulges him and wraps his arm around Peter to keep them firmly pressed together, knowing that having a strong and stable presence around would help Peter stay calm.

As expected, they end up falling asleep on that couch.  


 

4.

 

Tony has always known Peter lost his parents when he was young, and his uncle more recently, since he first found out who Spider-man was. He guesses this was another thing to tie the two men together.

They’ve never really had any reason to talk about their dead parental figures, even though Tony was expecting it to come up at some point. Like, Tony was practically Peter’s dad at this point with all of his helicopter parenting (he would never admit it though), but he didn’t want Peter to feel like Tony was replacing his uncle or his parents, or if Peter even saw Tony that way.

Well, the second part of that wasn’t a big concern of Tony’s; he’d heard Peter slip up and almost call him ‘dad’ many times already, but in typical Stark fashion, he ignored it each time and changed the topic because he could _not_ be mushy-gushy. And Peter looked so embarrassed each time that Tony was nice enough to pretend he didn’t hear it.

What Tony was afraid of was the replacement part. When Tony’s parents died, his “replacement” parent was Obie, and look at how well that turned out. And Tony wasn’t even very close with his father or Obie, but he knew that Peter loved his Uncle Ben. He didn’t want to intrude, and with Peter’s history of self-depreciating he’d probably feel guilty if he felt like Tony was replacing Ben. So that’s also part of the reason why Tony never called Peter out on the ‘dad’ instances because Peter most likely wouldn’t even know what he was going to do about it.

Tony planned on never ever EVER having that conversation anytime soon, but his plans were soon shot out of the sky when one Friday afternoon Peter walks in looking like a kicked puppy. “What’s up, Mr. Stark?” He mutters dejectedly, realizes he’s being too sad, and turning the tables around by putting on a terrible fake smile for his mentor. “Are we going to keep working on the nanotech?”

“Hm.” Tony hums, not buying the act in the slightest. “Possibly. First we’re gonna go to the living room though.”

Peter follows him, not even questioning the change of plans until he’s sat down on the couch and a tub of ice cream is placed into lab. He looks up, eyes curious, as Tony sits down with his own tub of Stark Raving Hazelnuts.

“Go on, have some. But not too much because I do not need Sugar-High-Peter here.” Peter rolls his eyes but eats the ice cream nonetheless. The man clears his throat and stares right at Peter. “Now, it’s time to talk. Spill, what’s on your mind, kid?”

That makes Peter put the tub back down and wrings his hands together nervously, “What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“I’ll believe that when you get better at lying. I know you, kiddo, and I know something’s bothering you. Something happen at school? It’s not that Flash kid again, is it?” Tony raises his eyebrows.

“No! It’s not him.” Tony raises his eyebrows even more. “I swear he didn’t do much. All he did was say some things and then left me alone. School was great; they had grilled chicken for lunch and I got an A on my Spanish test. Ned got a new lego set and invited me over next week.”

Now Tony was at a loss. “If it wasn’t school, is it something with May?” Again, Peter shakes his head no. “You sure it wasn't Flash? What did he say to you?”

Nervous fidgeting from Peter. _Bingo._ “Peter, what did he say?”

“Nothing important! Really. I’m just overthinking things like normal.” He stands up, even more nervous now. “Can we go back to the lab?”

“Nuh-uh. Not until we talk this through.” Tony doesn’t let his kid escape, grabbing his arm and dragging him back down until they’re facing each other again. “If what he said was enough to get you this antsy then it’s enough for me to be concerned. I’m here to help, remember?”

Defeated, Peter slumps into himself. Tony sets his tub to the side so it doesn’t get in the way and drags Peter closer. Without wasting any time, the vigilante wraps his arms around Tony’s waist, tucking his head against his mentor’s chest. Tony starts carding a hand through Peter’s curls—a fail-safe technique for calming him down from a bout of anxious thinking. “It’s just… He said some things that made me think about… about Ben.” The carding falters momentarily before starting again.

Tony hums. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really… But I should, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah, kid. I think this talk has been long overdue.” No matter how much Tony wanted to give in and just say they could eat their melting ice cream and watch stupid Vine compilations. “Tell me all the stuff that you couldn’t before.”

And that’s all it takes to get his kid to spill his guts to him; how much he misses Ben, how he died, how he wished he could have been better, how he doesn’t remember his parents, his guilt, his restlessness. And then, _and then_ , it comes back to Tony. About how much he cares for Tony but knows he’s not his uncle. “A-and I know you’re here for me. And I know May is too. I know I have Ned and MJ and even Happy, but no one really understands as much as you do how I feel, you know?”

“I know, I know, Pete.” He soothes. Because _boy does he know._

Peter continues, “I always have you there to talk to or to tinker with or to watch movies with or to hug and I just want to say thank you. I know you didn’t sign up for this, that you wanted Spider-man and not Peter Parker but you stayed anyway. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

Those were definitely not tears in his eyes, no siree. “I knew from the first time I met you that I’d enjoy your company, Peter. Spider-man is cool and all, but I really like the guy behind the mask too. Honestly, I should be thanking _you_ for sticking around so long.”

“What?” Peter picks his head up and looks at him, confused. “Why would I leave you? You’re the best!”

Tony coughs, looking away from those earnest eyes, “Of course Iron Man is the best.”

“No, no. I mean Tony Stark. Iron Man is cool and all, but I like Tony Stark the best.”

Okay, those were _definitely_ tears in his eyes. “Kid you’re going to kill me.” He manages to choke out before pushing Peter’s face back into his chest to avoid looking at him. He can feel Peter’s giggles vibrating from his sternum. The _thank you_ is unspoken but Peter gets it anyway _._

“You’re welcome, Mr. Stark.”

“Call me Tony, will ya? Mr. Stark was my dad.”

“Sure thing, Tony.”

  


5.

 

Since their deep chats, Peter stays over more often. It gives May some alone time she never really got since taking Peter in, and it gives Tony more time with the kid he’s come to love as his own. And Peter got to play with a bunch of cool technology, so a win-win-win.

Due to the increased time together, Tony picks up on some of Peter’s mannerisms. One includes how much he films and photographs. When they were in the car on the way back from Germany, Tony noticed Peter was filming him and in that clip was probably the first time Tony had genuinely smiled since Siberia, and it was because he made an inappropriate comment about the kid’s aunt. Peter’s expression was just too funny not to laugh at.

Happy mentioned that Peter took videos will in the car with him as well, so Tony realized he must like filming. He remembers telling Peter in the car all those months ago not to worry about filming him when Peter offered to stop, saying ‘ _I’d probably do the same.’_ Another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things they had in common.

Currently Peter was filming DUM-E with the StarkPhone Tony had given him chasing a laser dot around, laughing when he turns the laser pointer off and DUM-E whirls around in circles, distressed.

“Hey, Pete, do you ever post any of the pictures or clips you take online? I’ve seen some of your photos and I think they’d bring you a lot of opportunities.” Tony walks closer to him, clapping a hand on his shoulder when he’s near.

“Online?! Where people could see and critique me?!” Tony just laughs at Peter’s distressed tone because of how much it sounds like DUM-E’s current distressed beeping.

“Why not? Post in on your Instagram page.”

“I can’t! Plus, most of these include you or were taken as Spider-man. It would be hard to explain.”

Tony is relentless. “You’re my personal intern, of course you’d have pictures of me. And you said your peers believe you know Spider-man, right? So just say he got pictures and sent them to you.” He shrugs as if it’s the easiest thing in the world.

He can tell Peter is thinking about it so he keeps pressing. “You could even make an account for Spider-man so you could freely post those gorgeous pictures of New York you got.”

“You wouldn’t mind me posting pictures of you?” Peter sounds dubious.

“I wouldn’t mind. It would also be good PR if people see the inside of Stark Industries if that eases your mind.”

In half an hour, Peter manages to break the internet by posting a collage of pictures that tell a beautiful story.

In the first one, Tony is reaching for a cup of coffee, looking distracted as he fiddles with a device in front of him. In the second, there is a tiny flame that erupts from the device but Tony has successfully picked up the coffee. In the third, he’s holding the cup to his mouth, unperturbed by the fire in front of him; in the background, DUM-E is racing towards the scene. In the fourth photo, Tony notices DUM-E and has his arm half-way raised in a signal to stop the bot but can’t say anything because he still has a mouthful of coffee; his face is panicked. In the fifth, DUM-E is spraying him with the fire extinguisher. The final photo is of him, his entire right side covered in white powder, staring at his foam covered coffee with a dead look in his eyes, whole body slumped as if this was the worst thing that could have happened to him. The photo is slightly shaky, as if the photographer was laughing when he took it.

 

 _Liked by_ **_tonystark_ ** _and 1,372,801 others_

 **peterparkour** just a regular day in the labs with DUM-E and _@tonystark_

 

View all 3806 comments

 **nedneedsjesus** HSDHSHA PETER FUCKING PARKER WHAT THE FUCK

 **michellejones** get pepper potts on here next

 **peterparkour** _@michellejones_ i’ll have to ask her first but hopefully!!

 **thefastestflash** this is fake. As if penis could get photos of tony stark

 **tonystark** _@thefastestflash_ I can assure you this is 100% real, Eugene. I’d recommend you don’t use that kind of language again.

 **thefastestflash** hOLY MOTHER OFRHEAEWNNJK

  


+1

 

The Rogues have been pardoned after months of endless back and forth with the government. Signed under the New Accords, they’re headed back for the Compound. Steve wanted to use this opportunity to apologize again to Tony for what he did, and to thank him for helping so much with getting the pardons. He knew that without Tony’s backup, they would probably still be hiding out in Wakanda.

After Siberia, Steve had time to think about things, and he realized it was probably his own stupid actions that led to that fight. If he’d just told Tony when he found out, things would have gone down differently that night. While they’ve had misunderstandings, Steve knew Tony was usually a level-headed man, and would listen to what Steve had to say.

FRIDAY led them all back to their old rooms, and Steve left them to get comfortable, seeking out Tony next. FRIDAY said he was in his suite, and Steve wasn’t sure he would be allowed to go there so he instead went to the common room to fill the time. Bucky stayed in Wakanda, not wanting to leave just yet, and Steve understood, but he really wished he had his best friend with him for this.

The common room was renovated, and even had some more knick knacks that helped the place look nicer. Some designer must have chosen the throw blankets and plants though, not Tony. Tony didn’t stay in this part of the Compound anyway, but his own wing. Still, it hurt Steve to think of no one new coming to give the place life. He distantly wondered about the Spider-man guy he met in Germany. But a single person wouldn’t be enough to make this place feel homey.

He didn’t expect to see Tony so soon after arriving, so imagine his surprise when an hour later he arrived to the common room, and found a kid standing next to him. He looked young, no older than 15 or 16, with a head of gelled curls and brown eyes. Steve knew from old photos that Tony himself had slightly curly hair from when he was younger, and with those two standing next to each other, it was hard not to make assumptions.

“Tony!” Steve blurted out, surprised. “Uh, hi. It’s—uh, it’s been a while.” He cringed at the awkwardness of it all. Tony might have a press smile on, but Steve could see the tension in his shoulders and the way he was inching in front of the younger boy as if to protect him. The boy in question looked slightly less anxious, with a more relaxed body, and just seemed all-around happier to be there.

“Rogers, welcome back to the Compound. I came to see if everyone was settling in alright, and this little twerp decided to tag along.” Tony pointed at the boy next to him.

“Ah, thank you, Tony. We’re settling in perfectly thanks to you, so… thank you again for your help.” Steve smiled at them both. “It’s nice to meet you, young man. I’m Steve.” He tried to be as polite as possible with Tony’s son, and it seemed to work. The kid still looked distrustful, but replied just as politely.

“I’m Peter.”

Steve nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Peter.” He then made eye contact with Tony, “Uh, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to apologize about…” Steve paused, unsure if he should continue in front of Peter, but Tony already waved away the apology.

“Apology accepted. It’s in the past now.”

Steve sighed in relief, but still felt guilty. He would try again when they weren’t in the presence of children.

Peter is about to speak again when other voices join in. “Wow, we weren’t invited to the party?” Sam walks in with Natasha and Wanda, the latter of the two looking a little irked that Tony was here. Sam and Natasha didn’t seem to care too much, but were surprised to see Peter too.

At the voices, Peter’s arm latches onto Tony’s back, much like a child would do to a parent in a stressful situation. Tony drapes an arm across Peter’s shoulders to comfort him. The action was so dad-like that Steve would coo if the occasion wasn’t so tense.

“Ah! The rest of the gang has arrived. Good to see you all.”

“I love the new look. This place looks great, man. I love those Lego things, I never really got to play with them when I was younger.” Sam compliments. Out of all of them, Sam was the least close to Tony, the two only having met a handful of times.

Tony grins, squeezing Peter’s shoulder. “It was actually Peter here that helped with that. Him and his friend have a lot of them, and nowhere to display them. I recommended he put them here. Peter, meet Sam Wilson.”

“I know who he is, I don’t live under a rock.” Peter groans at Tony, his tone basically saying _dad you’re embarrassing me_. Sam looks at Peter then, and the kid gives a wave and a smile not only to Sam but to Natasha and Wanda as well. “Hi guys.”

“Hey there, Peter. Nice to meet ya.” The three say their hellos and greetings.

“Well, if you have any questions, direct them to FRIDAY. Nat, Fury wants to see you. Toodles.” Tony waves with one hand and pulls himself and Peter out of the room.

Steve couldn’t help but call out, “Tony!”

When the man turns around with a questioning brow quirked, Steve falters a bit. “Would you, uh, mind… having dinner together?” Tony looked surprised, but Peter seemed pretty keen to the idea. That was enough for Steve to push a little more, “I’d be the one cooking and cleaning.”  
  
“Well…” Tony and Peter turn to each other at the same time, having a quick and non-verbal  conversation that resulted in both of them turning back to Steve like they had some kind of weird father-son bond that allowed them to act as a single being. “How can we say no to your cooking? I hope you don’t mind if Pete comes along.”

“Of course not! The more the merrier.” Steve was just surprised that Tony was willing to let everyone near his son so quickly, but he was mostly happy about it. The pair nodded and walked out.

Silence descended upon the room. Sam was the first to break it. “Well, I have never seen people more in sync than those two.”

Steve laughed, “Yeah, they seem really comfortable with each other.”

“They father and son, right?” Sam questioned.

“I honestly don’t know. Seems like it.” Steve replied.

Natasha looked like she was working out a puzzle. “He doesn’t have any kids.”

“You sure?” Sam sounded dubious. “Maybe he just found out. Would explain why we haven’t met him before.”

Wanda shrugs, “The boy, Peter, is nice.”

Steve frowns. “Wanda, you didn’t…?”

She waves him off, “I didn’t do anything. He seemed trusting and honest. He just wants his father to be safe.”

“Okay, as long as you don’t use your mind powers here without permission. Tony gave us all another chance, so I don’t want to break his trust again.” Steve lectured, and was greeted with a chorus of ‘aye, aye, captain’s. He rolls his eyes. “I’m going to start cooking for dinner.”

He was going to have to go all out for this meal. As if he was going to be able to win Tony’s trust back with food, but Tony and Peter deserved to have a good and hearty meal. First impressions are good too, and he’s hoping Peter is big on eating. Tony wasn’t the type to have consistent mealtimes, but when he remembered he needed food to live he was always the one to get everyone to go out or ask people what they wanted for dinner and it always became a fun activity. With how similar the two were in that short meeting, Steve thinks they’d both want a feast.

Steve is determined to do this right, and hopefully find out more things the Starks had in common before the day was over.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! things i learned while writing this: it is very hard to give characters usernames that include their name. also i completely forgot the fact that they were both SUPERHEROES was a thing they had in common until i wrote the summary i'm a complete dumbass
> 
> on another note i'm gonna go see captain marvel tmr and i'm so pumped


End file.
